75th Anniversary Celebration in San Francisco

by Ivan Snyder and Dave Tribby

Members of the American Amateur Press Association gathered in
California's San Francisco Bay Area to celebrate the 75th
Anniversary of the group's founding. Convention headquarters was
the Crowne Plaza Hotel, located just south of San
Francisco International Airport in Foster City, but convention
activities, organized by convention co-chairs Dave Tribby and
Steve Robison, were held from San Francisco to San Jose.

On Thursday, June 30, eighteen AAPA members and spouses kicked
off the convention with the traditional Charlie Bush Chinese
dinner, held at the 5 Joy Chinese Restaurant in Foster City. The
authentic Taiwanese fare was plentiful--dishes just kept coming and
coming! After the meal, delegates crossed the street to take a
stroll along San Francisco Bay.

The first official session got underway Friday morning. Members
had a chance to look over a variety of presses brought by Steve
Robison. Most prominent was a treadle-operated Pearl, but he also
had many table-top presses. Steve also provided the convention's
podium, which was made from a type cabinet.

After a welcome by Dave Tribby, everyone in attendance
introduced themselves. Among the revelations: George Hamilton
joined AAPA in 1948, giving him 63 years in the organization; but
Dean Rea joined in 1942, and has been a member for 69 years.

Officer reports were next. President Mike O'Connor led off by
reading a report from first vice president Mike Coughlin.
Secretary-treasurer Ivan Snyder's report included a handout
detailing association income and expenses plus membership
statistics. Dean Rea concluded with his official editor's report.

In the first feature presentation, "Business Ventures in
Printing," Matt Kelsey described his book publishing and
letterpress printing businesses. Matt is proprietor of Liber Apertus Press, which republishes
out-of-print books. He told how he got into book publishing, and
described what is involved in getting a book to market. Several
impressive volumes were passed around for members to examine. Matt
also passed around wedding invitations and business cards--another
of his business ventures. Most of his clients for the latter line
come from his
Matthew Kelsey, Printer website.

Following a brief break, Mike O'Connor presented "AAPA's
Future: Increasing the 20." The title refers to the "80/20" rule--the adage that in a typical
organization 80% of the work is done by 20% of the members. Mike
emphasized his points using a PowerPoint slide presentation that
included the results of two on-line surveys of members he recently
took. At the end of his presentation he offered this recap:

Further trim officer ranks and simplify operations

It's quality -- not quantity

More use of electronic world: surveys, voting, forums

Stress dual publishing: print and online

The talk concluded with a group discussion on how to increase that
20% of members who are active in the AAPA.

Mike's presentation was a natural lead-in for the next feature:
a discussion by Dean Rea and Mike about "Pixels in a Pica World."
Examples were given of members who are publishing
electronically--without presses, paper, or ink. The late J. Hill
Hamon pioneered electronic publishing with his Whippoorwill
E-Comment. Florida member Hugh Singleton and New York member
Dave Griffin continue contributing to the AAPA's
E-Journal Archive. Some discussion ensued in the limited time,
contrasting electronic amateur journalism with the traditional
printed media, and how the AAPA can go about living in both
worlds. Dean is editor of the online Author's
Bazaar to which both AAPA members and non-members
contribute. Mike formats Author's Bazaar and publishes it
to a website. He divulged some of the secrets to make this feature
as attractive as it is.

The afternoon's activities gave two glimpses of local pursuits
in the "real world" via a field trip to San Francisco. First was a
tour of
Arion Press and
M & H Type, led by Matt Kelsey, a former Arion Press
employee. Stops there included an exhibition of books published by
Arion Press over the years, the pressroom where books are printed,
the bindery, and the type foundry where metal type was being
cast. Bryan, operating a Monotype Composition Caster, and Dave,
operating a Thompson Caster, answered questions from the group as
they showed us the operation. Arion Press proprietor Andrew Hoyem
talked to the group and answered questions at the end of the tour.

After a drive through San Francisco traffic, the next tour was
of the San Francisco
Center for the Book. There were two printing projects
underway--both on Vandercook presses, and both using Photopolymer
plates. There were many type cases and presses available for
printing projects.

The first presentation on Saturday morning was Peter Schaub's
"Memories of Amateur Journalism." Peter joined AAPA in 1965 but as
is often the case, life happened; he became busy with other
pursuits, and his amateur journalism career--including AAPA
membership--was dropped. He rejoined early in 2008, after finding
our website, and has become active again. Peter reviewed his
participation in ajay as a member both of NAPA and AAPA. His
PowerPoint presentation showed copies of his amateur journal, "The
Novelty Pressman," which he published as a 16-year-old prep school
student. He described interactions with the Wesson family (who
lived a bus ride away), receiving letters of encouragement and
advice from long-established members, and the joy of attending
conventions.

Next on the program was "The Great Debate" between Dean Rea and
Ivan Snyder. The old die-hard printers argued AAPA current affairs
while setting type from California type cases. During the
conversation, they tried to offend almost everyone in
attendance--and some who were absent--with their wisecracks.
Their final conclusion: the AAPA has something to offer those who
are interested in amateur journalism, and the members in turn can
offer a lot to the AAPA.

Steve Robison introduced the next presentation: a description
of
Bay Area Book Artists given by Karen Cutter (Steve's wife) and
Linda Stinchfield (who, with her husband Kim Hamilton, joined AAPA
at the convention). Karen and Linda showed off BABA members'
creative and colorful hand-crafted creations, most of which are
very limited editions.

After lunch, Marjorie Wilser, Dave Robison, and Tom Goglio
discussed the San Jose Printers' Guild, each from a unique
perspective. Their talks and the pictures shown whetted AAPA
members' appetites for the visit to History Park on Sunday.

George Hamilton officiated at the auction Saturday
afternoon. George not only kept the audience entertained, but the
auction turned out to be very successful: proceeds totaled $900!
Even so, quite a few AAPA and Guild members escaped with valuable
items at truly bargain prices.

Members gathered in the hotel atrium at 5:15 for a group photo,
then went on to the pre-banquet social hour.

After dinner, Dave Tribby took to the podium to thank those who
helped make the convention a success: President Mike O'Connor, who
lined up the out-of-town speakers; all of those speakers, plus the
ones who added "local flavor" by describing Bay Area activities;
his co-chair Steve Robison; but most of all their wives, Liz and
Karen. Maurine Scott interrupted Dave to thank him for his
leadership of the convention, which led to a round of
applause. Dave next read a message to the convention from
"Mr. AAPA," Lee Hawes, who has attended most conventions since
1946 but could not make this year's.

Laureate judge George Hamilton announced the 2010-2011 winners,
and handed certificates to those who were in attendance: Ivan
Snyder, Ron Hylton, Dean Rea, Len Carrick, Greg McKelvey, and
Jiyani Lawson.

Mike O'Connor announced the winner of the Marge Adams Petrone
Limerick Contest: Susan Petrone--who happens to be Marge's
daughter. She won with this entry:

There once was a printer named Liddle
With bad jokes he always would fiddle
He'd set to type
Anything he could swipe
How he found it was always a riddle

Mike presented AAPA Stalwart awards "to relatively long-term,
current members who have exhibited, over time, that extra effort
to promote amateur journalism and the AAPA." The awards, in
alphabetical order, went to Leland M. Hawes, Jr., Fred Liddle,
Dean Rea, Jack Scott, Ivan Snyder, and David Tribby. Mike also
announced the 2011 Russell L. Paxton award for service to amateur
journalism, given by The Fossils, will go to AAPA's Ken Davis,
publisher of Ken's Lightsome Journal.

The featured speaker for the evening was none other than George
W. Hamilton, who spoke on "The Next 75--Get More out of Ajay!"
George joined AAPA in 1948 and has a vast knowledge of ajay
affairs. The audience became involved
as George invited all to tell someone seated next to them some
fact about themselves quite apart from their printing or ajay
activities. George's point was there are many fascinating
but unknown facts about each of us, and how much more fun
life could be if we began to discover them.

All that remained after adjournment was more interaction up in
the Hospitality Suite, and that went on until close to midnight.

The 2011 convention's final day, Sunday, July 3, included two
activities: a visit to History Park in San Jose and a visit to Dave
and Liz Tribby's residence and Handset Press.

Arriving members found an abundance of sunny San Jose weather,
with just enough shade and breeze to stay comfortable. After a
picnic lunch, members meandered over to the
Printing Office where Guild members Dave Robison, Marjorie
Wilser, Kim Hamilton, Tom Goglio, Steve Robison, and Dave Tribby
played host to the visitors. Dave R. demonstrated one of his
Multigraph presses, set up to print in Braille. Marjorie
demonstrated the F. M. Weiler "Liberty" jobber press--with no
throw-off lever. Some members ventured away from the Print Shop to
enjoy other features of the park, including a ride on the trolley
line.

A short drive brought the group to the home of Dave and Liz
Tribby in Sunnyvale. With the purchase of Charlie Hinde's Bean
Creek Press in 2003, Dave has an abundance of type, borders,
dingbats, and all the other stuff needed for letterpress printing.